Modern phones have better specs than many PCs. So why do we still use two devices when we could be using just one? All right, yes, there are many reasons for why things are this way. Lack of connectivity (many phones come with USB 2, last I...

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this.

  • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    This is the future. The question is when will it be usable day to day. All the technologies in place. Just take somebody to put it all together and commit to removing all the rough edges.

    I’ve personally run x windows on Android phones, hooked up to a desktop. Works pretty well. But not good enough to leave my laptop behind.

    iPhones have the same power as the MacBooks now, minus the RAM, so we’re there. All the pieces are here somebody has to put the puzzle together

  • ryan@the.coolest.zone
    51·
    1 year ago

    I said this years ago and I’ll say it again - if Apple puts out some laptop shell that an iPhone can slot into which has its keyboard, touchscreen monitor, and extended battery etc and basically acts as a Chromebook-esque note taking and internet browsing device, I can imagine they’d take over high schools and colleges.

    (I do specifically say touchscreen monitor because many kids are growing up never having used a mouse or trackpad. They won’t have used keyboards either but that’s a more essential/less replaceable skill for the workplace in the future.)

    Edit: Yes, I know this is an Android subreddit, but it’s iPhones that the kids in the US have and that’s what immediately struck me reading this - a way to eat Chromebook’s lunch.

    • Dudewitbow@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Imo the only reason why it hasnt happened yet is because it would devalue ipad pros.

      • ryan@the.coolest.zone
        3·
        1 year ago

        Oh, very true. I was thinking the same thing re: Androids and Chromebooks, but I forgot about the iPad market. Oh well, guess we’re stuck with at least 2 different portable computer products at all times. Anything else would be of just too much benefit to the consumer.

  • danielfgom@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    Actually I believe Desktop Mode was added to Android by Google with Android 12 or 13, but it’s pretty basic and it’s up to OEM’s to implement it.

    I wish they all would, from budget to flagship but it’s extra work they don’t want to do.

    It could be life changing in 3rd world countries and could become many people’s first experience with a pc.

  • ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.idMEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    Obvious elephant in the room is some of these mobile environments are stigmatized by the need for “security” and taking away the freedom of what a desktop OS offers.

    The very best example is the background playback of audio on a website called YouTube.com.

    Why you can’t play things in the background (yes, I have Kiwi etc and can do this) on mobile is very very telling, and will only get more restrictive.

    • Schmeckinger@feddit.deEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      If the whole Desktop environment was 1 app wouldn’t that basically circumvent that. Since the whooe environment would be sandboxed together. Sure you have way less hardware access, but for a lot of light productivity stuff thst woulf be enough.

  • steltek@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    A phone of today would out compete a laptop of 10 years ago. But the same statement was true 10 years ago: Android phones from 2013 are phenomenally better than the hilariously giant, clunky laptops from 2003. However, a phone today is not as good as a laptop today (screen res/refresh/latency, RAM/storage/connectivity, etc).

    Phones in a phone form factor have already assumed all the use cases they can from the laptop world. And a phone in a shell/dock will never be as good as the real thing so what does it gain you? Apps and websites already sync state across devices. Laptop software running on a phone will always run into mobile OS constraints and limits. You’ll probably be severely limited by the manufacturer’s kernel configuration (containers, eBPF, etc).

    Phone-as-laptop is dorky fun but you’ll run into limits almost immediately.

    • testman@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I would argue that it’s not a binary option. Whether phone can or can not perform tasks that laptop can. It’s a set / range of different use-cases.
      And as you said, even the glassy rectangle form factor took many use-cases from laptop. If the question is “can phone do all the tasks that laptop can do”, the answer will always be “no”. But if you analyse the use-cases and sort them by percentage, then I would argue that things like “browsing the web”, “editing documents”, “chatting with people” etc. will be the most predominant. And those are the tasks that current phones either can do or at least could do, if the appropriate software was developed for it. Yes, playing modern video games, photo editing, video editing, rendering graphics, programming and other advanced tasks would not be done easily on phone’s limited hardware, and that is why PCs, either laptops or desktops, will remain the device of choice for productivity. But as my initial point stands, the percentage of those use-cases is far outweighed by casual use-cases.